You Could Never One Up Ben

“A victorious line of march had been prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock of Gibraltar in Spain to the banks of the Loire in France; the repetition of an equal space would have carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland and the Highlands of Scotland; the Rhine is not more impassable than the Nile or Euphrates, and the Arabian Fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the River Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Qur’an would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Muhammed.”

Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

During the American Revolution Edward Gibbon, the historian of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire was visiting Paris (how civilized those times were we can judge since France and England were nearing war), and Benjamin Franklin was present as a representative from the United States.  Franklin had an interest in seeing Gibbon, whose initial volumes in his great history had been published in 1776.  Gibbon responded that although he greatly admired Doctor Franklin his patriotism would not allow him to meet with a revolted subject.  Nothing bothered, Franklin sent a note saying he quite understood, and that when Gibbon began work on the decline and fall of the British Empire, Franklin would be happy to supply him with a lot of material.